In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the states of semiconductor devices including the state of a semiconductor substrate which is being manufactured are monitored. The history of alarms corresponding to abnormalities, etc. in the states and the history of semiconductor manufacturing processes, etc. are displayed on a computer that is directly or indirectly connected to the apparatus. When a trouble has occurred in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, past operations of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus are estimated on the basis of the history data displayed on the computer or the like. The history data which includes characters and numerical values are not easily understandable by people. To analyze the data, significant time and effort are required.
In this regard, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-211133 (see paragraphs [0022] to [0032] and FIG. 1, etc.) proposes, as one example of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a chemical mechanical polishing (hereinafter, referred to as “CMP”) apparatus having a function for determining variables (e.g., torque current D1 for rotating a table driving motor) concerning an operation condition which may cause an abnormality.
According to the above technology, for example, the torque current D1 for rotating the table driving motor can be identified as the cause of an abnormality. However, there has been no technology for making the development of an abnormality easily understandable.